n a Prayer-book of the Fifteenth Century, in the National
Library of Paris.]

[Illustration: Fig. 184.--Dance by Torchlight, a Scene at the Court of
Burgundy.--From a Painting on Wood of 1463, belonging to M. H. Casterman,
of Tournai (Belgium).]

Dancing lost much of its simplicity and harmlessness when masquerades were
introduced, these being the first examples of the ballet. These
masquerades, which soon after their introduction became passionately
indulged in at court under Charles VI., were, at first, only allowed
during Carnival, and on particular occasions called _Charivaris_, and they
were usually made the pretext for the practice of the most licentious
follies. These masquerades had a most unfortunate inauguration by the
catastrophe which rendered the madness of Charles VI. incurable, and which
is described in history under the name of the _Burning Ballet_. It was on
the 29th of January, 1393, that this ballet made famous the festival held
in the Royal Palace of St. Paul in Paris, on the occasion of the marriage
of one of the maids of honour of Queen Isabel of Bavaria with a gentleman
of Vermandois. The bride was a widow, and the second nuptials were deemed
a fitting occasion for the Charivaris.

[Illustration: Fig. 185.--The Burning Ballet.--Fac-simile of a Miniature
in the Manuscript of the "Chroniques" of Froissart (Fifteenth Century), in
the National Library of Paris.]

A gentleman from Normandy, named Hugonin de Grensay, thought he could
create a sensation by having a dance of wild men to please the ladies. "He
admitted to his plot," says Froissart, "the king and four of the principal
nobles of the court. These all had themselves sewn up in close-fitting
linen garments covered with resin on which a quantity of tow was glued,
and in this guise they appeared in the middle of the ball. The king was
alone, but the other four were chained together. They jumped about like
madmen, uttered wild cries, and made all sorts of eccentric gestures. No
one knew who these hideous objects were, but the Duke of Orleans
determined to find out, so he took a candle and imprudently approached too
near one of the men. The tow caught fire, and the flames enveloped him
and the other three who were chained to him in a moment." "They were
burning for nearly an hour like torches," says a chronicler. "The king had
the good fortune to escape the peril, because the Duchesse de Berry, his
aunt, recognised him, and had the presence of m